User:Bishonen/ArbCom appeal for Certified.Gangsta

I've been contacted by Certified.Gangsta, who left the site at the conclusion of the Certified.Gangsta-Ideogram RFAR in early June 2007, after a whirl of defiant parole violations.[1] I know CG's editing habits and proclivities quite well—I believe he regarded me as something of his mentor, although we didn't have any explicit arrangement. I found him a well-meaning, hot-headed user, not hard to troll.

It has since become apparent that Ideogram did troll CG, and deliberately drove him away. See the community ban against Ideogram in August 2007, which was imposed for this and other similar cynical actions.[2] Note especially how User:Jehochman here uses the Ideogram/CG RFAR as an example of the way Ideogram notoriously

"targets users who have been in some kind of trouble and are trying to correct themselves. Ideogram baits and trolls his targets until they relapse, and then he seeks to have them banned. This cynical behavior should not be tolerated at Wikipedia."

In my opinion, Ideogram's pursuit of CG is a classic case of the trolling Jehochman describes. Note also the responses to Jehochman's concerns from experienced admins such as me, Geogre, El C, KillerChihuahua, and Durova. Quite a bit of evidence of Ideogram's provocations is also offered in the RFAR itself.

The arbitration committee accepted a request from Ideogram to have the remedies against CG reviewed in June-July. Apparently the idea (certainly Ideogram's idea) was to have CG's editing restrictions converted to a full siteban because of his parole violations. But the review was soon put on hold, since CG, intolerably frustrated by his editing restrictions (being limited to one revert per page per week, while pitted against Ideogram's own cheerfully reverting sockfarm), had already left. Meanwhile, Ideogram, virtuously enumerating CG's parole violations in this review, was himself evading his own symmetrical parole much more efficiently by large-scale sockpuppeteering.[3])

My proposal is that the committee consider allowing CG to return and be restored to full editing rights, in spite of the infractions he has committed. That would be a gesture of goodwill and trust towards a well-meaning editor, now that they know a bit more about the chicanery with which his opponent sought to bait him, to provoke these very infractions, and to drive him away from Wikipedia. Bishonen | talk 17:33, 5 November 2007 (UTC).

• I endorse this proposal. - Jehochman ^Talk 00:05, 7 November 2007 (UTC)
• While I don't know enough of the specifics to comment directly, I support the committee reviewing the proposal and sanctions agains CG. --Rocksanddirt 18:02, 7 November 2007 (UTC)
• From the summary above, and the diffs provided--and as a user who doesn't abide fools gladly myself--I endorse this proposal.K. Scott Bailey 16:01, 9 November 2007 (UTC)
• Ever since the start of my arbCom case, I have repeatedly stated that the arbCom case is a concerted anti-Certified.Gangsta campaign. While my action in the past with Ideogram is obviously far from optimal, I did make useful edits that benefit the community and participated in discussions, arbCom elections, deletion review, policy discussions, anti-sockpuppetry efforts, and adminship elections (see some of the examples in User_talk:Certified.Gangsta#contribution) before I became embroiled in a dispute that started when I vigorously pursued User:LionheartX ban-evading socks which enraged members of WikiProject: China including Ideogram, Sumple, etc. I was also right when I said the arbCom case was a concerted attempt to boot me off the project. After the arbCom case was over, Sumple and LionheartX have both been blocked for baiting me to edit war while Ideogram filed to start a review with the intent to siteban me, he was subsequently banned by the community when it became obvious that he operated various ban-evading socks. After nearly half a year of self-imposed exile, I believe I am more than competent, certainly capable of making a positively impact on wikipedia. This compounded by the fact that a despicable scheme did take place, I respectfully ask the arbCom to restore my editing privileges. Thank you--Certified.Gangsta 02:35, 10 November 2007 (UTC)